In Beijing, Three (or Eight) Roommates Is Not a Cr

Ng Han Guan / AP
Chinese fans of the American TV show Friends watch an episode at Beijing's own Central Perk
It's business as usual at Central Perk. On the plush, brightly colored couches, fashionable 20-somethings lounge around on their lunch breaks, sipping lattes and chatting with friends. Behind the counter, Gunther cleans the gaudy, oversize mugs and puts them away.
It's a scene comfortably familiar to any fan of the long-running '90s TV show Friends. But this is not mid-'90s Manhattan; this is Beijing, mid-2010. And the couches are peopled not by hip New Yorkers but by upwardly mobile Chinese young professionals who come in search of the easygoing Friends lifestyle that is increasingly hard to find in Beijing's stressed housing market.
China's Central Perk, a painstakingly detailed reconstruction of the TV original, is tucked away in a corner of a downtown Beijing office tower. It is the brainchild of Chinese businessman Du Xin, who gave himself the English name Gunther in honor of the show's long-suffering barista. "Friends is very popular among Chinese young people because it fulfills a need they have for friendship," says Du. "Beijing is such a big city, it's very easy for you to feel lonely. I think there should be a place where you feel safe and comfortable and can hang out. I wanted to build such a place for my customers."
For many of the young professionals, China's property boom is translating into a decidedly untelegenic lifestyle. As government stimulus funds and eager investors flock to the real estate sector, rents across the nation are soaring. In Beijing, where the average monthly salary is roughly RMB 3,700 ($545), the monthly rent for a typical one-bedroom apartment was about RMB 2,900 ($427) as of June, according to Homelink Real Estate. That leaves many with no choice but to find people to share their home with. More and more, flatmates are sharing small, cramped apartments with several other people — a lifestyle less reminiscent of Friends than of another TV favorite of Chinese youth, Prison Break.
A generation ago, workers in Beijing were from Beijing, and most lived with their families or in company dorms. Today sharing apartments in big Chinese cities, where most people now migrate to, has become the norm. Landlords and rental agents are increasingly willing to rent more expensive apartments to several tenants at once rather than leave a flat empty while they wait to find a wealthier tenant or family, and young professionals are squeezing into smaller and smaller spaces. Until recently, Jennifer Xie, who is three years out of college and works in administration, shared a small suburban apartment with her boyfriend and six others. "Altogether, there were eight people — four couples — living in a three-bedroom apartment," Xie says. "One couple slept in the living room." When Xie became pregnant a few months ago, they moved into their own place, a change that has hurt the young couple's wallets but left them with few regrets. "It was much too crowded," Xie says. "We had to take turns to cook. We all shared one small fridge and one line for drying laundry ... I don't miss that time."
The shortage of affordable housing is not exclusively a Beijing problem. Housing prices across the country have been soaring in the past 18 months, leaving both renters and first-time buyers gasping for air. From Shanghai to Guangzhou, prices in the past year have risen by double digits. In the city of Haikou, on the southern island province of Hainan, the average house price has gone up 50% in the past 12 months. Back in the capital, as things have become tighter, there have even been tales of young office workers taking off to country villages in the hills outside the city, willing to endure a two-hour commute to work each way for the reward of cheaper rent and their own place.
An official crackdown on real estate speculation that was started early this year, coupled with new regulations to promote the construction of more affordable housing, should lower prices and bring some relief to Beijing's beleaguered house hunters. There are signs that the measures are already having some effect, but what changes do come will inevitably come slowly. House prices in Beijing fell just 0.4% in June, month on month.
For now, many of Beijing's young professionals will have to put up with cramped accommodations and a shortage of personal space. Wang Xiyuan, a 27-year-old Beijing office worker sitting on Du's faithful replica of Central Perk's iconic orange couch, was unable to afford her own place until recently. Before, she and a friend were sharing a cramped two-room flat in which the only communal space was a tiny kitchen. "What attracted me most about Friends was the friendship between the roommates," Wang says. "But it's not easy to live with a friend. Americans have different habits than Chinese. They are more open and direct. Chinese people are sometimes too shy to tell you what they really think. They just get madder and madder at you, but don't tell you."
Tense roommate relations is apparently good news for Du. He wants his coffee shop to become like a living room for the city's young professionals — with $3.70 lattes for sale.
"I wanted to create a place where friends can come and hang out in comfort," he says, as the Friends theme song plays softly from the nearby TV that's screening reruns. "That's why I opened this café."美剧《老友记》的剧迷正在北京的Central Perk里观看电视。和往常一样,Central Perk咖啡馆里摆放着鲜艳的毛绒沙发,在那里,20多岁的时尚男女围聚在一起,一边啜饮拿铁咖啡,一边与朋友谈笑风生,享受着午休的时光。在柜台的后面,甘瑟(Gunther)清洗完宽大漂亮的咖啡杯之后,将它们摆放到了一旁。
对于90年代长篇喜剧《老友记》的剧迷来说,这温馨的一幕再熟悉不过了。不过,上文中的场景可不是90年代中期的曼哈顿,而是2010年的北京。坐在沙发上享受时光的,也不是摩登的纽约客,而是在住房压力不断增长的北京里,前来寻找《老友记》中那种轻松生活方式的北漂们。
中国的Central Perk咖啡馆费尽心思地重建了《老友记》中的原始场景。这个咖啡馆藏在北京市中心办公楼的一个角落。它是中国商人杜鑫的思想产物。杜鑫的英文名叫Gunther,以纪念《老友记》中长期受苦受难的咖啡师。“《老友记》在中国的年轻人当中非常受欢迎,因为这部电视剧填补了他们对友谊的需要,北京如此之大,很容易就让人感觉孤独。我认为应该有个地方能让人们觉得安全舒适,并且能够待在那儿。我想为我的顾客们建造这样一个场所。”
对于许多年轻的打工者来说,中国房地产的暴增正在转变成为一种没法放上台面的生活方式。随着政府发放的刺激性资金和投资者对房产市场的疯狂涌入,全国上下的房租价格都是一片高涨。北京的人均月收入大约是3700元,但根据链家地产6月份的数据,一套一居室的公寓就要收取平均2900元的租金。高额的租价使得许多人只能去寻找他人共享家园。几个室友一同居住在狭小公寓中的情形越来越常见。这种合租生活方式同《老友记》相去甚远,但却和另外一部在中国年轻人中流行的美剧颇为相似——《越狱》。
上一代在北京工作的还都是本地人,他们大多和家人住在一起,也有人住在公司的宿舍。今天,随着中国的大城市成为了打工者的目的地,合租公寓也变得寻常起来。面对等待富裕租户或家庭的空租期,房东和中介更乐于一次性地将房屋分租给不同的房客,以赚取更多收入,但年轻人们的空间也被挤压得越来越狭小。就在最近,已经从大学毕业三年,就职于政府部门的Jennifer Xie和男友一起,同另外六人在郊区合租下了一间小公寓。“我们总共4对情侣,8个人,房子是三居室。其中有一对睡在客厅。”当Xie在几个月前有了身孕之后,她和男友搬去了一处属于自己的天地。这次变动虽然花费不小,但却并不让人遗憾。“太挤了,”Xie说,“我们得轮流做饭,还得共用一个小冰箱,连晾衣绳也只有一条……我不怎么怀念那段日子。”
房屋奇货可居的情形不仅仅是北京才有的问题。在过去的18个月里,全国房价一片高涨,使得租客和首次购房者只能望楼兴叹。无论上海,还是广州,房价涨幅都在过去的一年里超过了两位数。而在南方,海南省的省会海口,平均房价更是在过去12个月里上涨了50%。至于首都北京,上班族也纷纷迁离到城外的山村,为了低廉的房租和自己的空间,宁愿忍受2个小时的上下班征途。
今年年初,中国官方才有所举动,对房地产市场开始压制。随着几项鼓励建设廉价房屋新规定的出台,房价有望下降,同时也给深陷北京、渴求住所的人们带来了希望。有迹象表明,政府的措施已经起到了一定效果,但变化却显得微乎其微。今年6月,北京的房价仅仅回落了0.4%。
现在,许多年轻的北漂不得不在适应狭小的蜗居生活之余,面对缺少个人空间的窘境。27岁的北京白领王欣源坐在杜鑫那家仿制Central Perk里的钢制橙色沙发上,最近才刚刚能够支付起自己的空间。在此之前,她和朋友挤住在一套狭小的两居室里,唯一的公共空间便是那里的小厨房。“《老友记》里最吸引我的地方,是室友之间的友谊。但和朋友在一起住不太容易。美国人的习惯和中国人不一样。他们更开放,更直接。中国人有时候太爱面子,不愿意告诉你他们在想什么,只会对你一直积攒怨气。”
紧张的室友关系对于杜鑫来说无疑是好消息。他希望自己的咖啡馆能成为年轻北漂们的会客厅——顺便出售3.7美元一杯的拿铁咖啡。
“我想要创造一个让朋友们来到后感觉舒适的地方,”杜鑫说着,身旁正在重播《老友记》的电视里响起了《老友记》的主题曲,“这就是我开这家咖啡馆的原因。
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